Guardian (Timeline B)
The Guardians were a highly-advanced, apparently humanoid race that disappeared from history sometime around 48,500 BBY. Far less is known about them than the other "precursor" species, such as the Celestials and the Rakata, for the Guardians appear to have hailed from an entirely different galaxy than the known one. History The history of the Guardians can only be roughly and inconclusively pieced together from a combination of evidence, ruins, and the few documents they left behind (as the Guardian written language was translated by an anonymous party in 4130 ABY). Complicating matters is that the Guardians appear to have closely intertwined their religion and their history; it is often difficult to tell the difference between religious texts and true historical documents. It is generally believed that both historical and religious documents suggest the Guardians long interacted with some extremely powerful group of beings; these beings were worshipped by the Guardians as living gods. Though this relationship went on for hundreds if not thousands of years, Guardian sculptures and documents suggest that their gods eventually went through a schism, with the Guardians themselves joining in on one side of the war. Carbon-dating places the age of the schism-related sculptures and ruins at approximately 48,500 BBY; no Guardian creations from after this time exist, implying the Guardians lost the war and were either exterminated or stripped of their technology and civilization. Involvement Phalanx claimed to have been the last of the Guardians, his lifespan extended dramatically by his armorsuit's advanced life support system. His claim, though impossible to validate, is supported by his access to - and knowledge of - ancient Guardian technology, ranging from the offensive systems of his power suit to the shield generators of the Defiant. Though Phalanx initially made every effort to prevent Guardian technology from leaking into the galaxy, he failed quite dramatically when his flagship Defiant, as well as many components of his powered armor, fell into the bloodstained hands of Duren. After this fiasco, he largely abandoned his attempts to limit the flow of Guardian technology, and instead did his best to stop Duren and the Golden Empire by giving some of his technology to the Third Republic. After Phalanx's disappearance in 61 ABY, the Guardian-influenced leaps in technology of the Third Republic era came crashing to a halt. The galaxy returned to technologically stagnating, as it had for millennia prior. This continued until innovations in the 4100s - for the first time in ages, not driven by pre-existing Rakatan or Guardian technology - resulted in rapid advancement for the first three decades of the century. As a result of this rapid development, by the time Guardian technology began to resurface in 4128 ABY, were not limited to simply reverse-engineering it. Instead, the technology existed to analyze, understand, recreate and eventually improve upon the Guardian devices being studied. With this newfound capability, and the massive cache of Guardian technology discovered in the aftermath of Duren's defeat, it is speculated that the Fourth Republic could in many areas surpass the Guardians' level of advancement by 4230. Category:Up-to-date Article